Children and adults make sand sculptures, snow sculptures and the like using toy buckets and toy shovels. For example, a person uses a toy bucket repetitively to make a sand castle. A person fills the toy bucket with sand using the toy shovel, flips the toy bucket upside down, and taps or hits the bottom of the bucket to release the sand article, which is in the shape of the interior of the bucket. In this way, the toy bucket is used like a mold.
Various shapes for the toy sand bucket can be used to create different cast shapes (e.g. castled tops). Other sand or snow toys have a multi-component mold. The pieces of the mold are attached together to form the mold body. After the mold is filled with sand or snow, the pieces of the mold body are carefully removed away from the casted sand or snow article. This avoids having to hit or tap the mold to separate the mold from the casted sand or snow article.
Another toy used for forming snow blocks includes a mold body and a strap. Before the person fills the mold with snow, the person must first ensure the strap lines the interior side surfaces and the bottom surface of the mold. After the person fills the body of the mold, the person pulls on both ends of the strap to help pull the casted snow article out of the mold.
Another toy used for molding sand includes a pump to extract water from the sand in the mold. The pump includes a bellow and a fabric or felt filter to allow water to pass through, but not sand. The pump also includes a valve to create suction when pumping. The pump additionally includes elastic bands to bias a piston in the pump towards a certain direction. Such a toy includes an ejector plate that is fixed to the pump mechanism. The ejector plate moves by a person sliding the mold relative to the ejector plate and the thereto fixed pump mechanism. Alternatively, a user turns a knob to actuate a rack and pinion gear that pushes the ejector plate and the thereto fixed pump mechanism relative to the mold.